Suite test. A virtual reality based neuropsychological assessment tool for memory. A normative study on immediate, short-term and delayed memory tasks.

OBJECTIVE: To collect normative data for the Suite test, a virtual reality (VR) tool designed to assess memory processes. METHOD: The normative sample included 676 subjects (49.7% female), aged from 12 to 85 years. The Suite test comprises a 360-degree VR environment designed as a furniture shop, in which participants must group specific sets of furniture items (ordered by different families of customers) by clicking on the furniture to be packed following instructions from a voice-over. RESULTS: Core variables provided were grouped into immediate, short-term and long-term delayed recall. Cluster analyses established five age groups (12 years old, 13 to 26, 27 to 44, 45 to 58, and 59 to 85) with gender differentiated norms only deemed necessary for those transitioning from adolescence to adulthood (13 to 26) and from middle age to older adulthood (45 to 58). No statistically significant differences were found for additional gender × age normative groups, or for any group differentiated by educational level. A confirmatory factor analysis raised the existence of two differentiated factors, one associated to encoding processes (immediate memory trials) and the other to retrieval processes (both short term and long-term delayed recall trials grouping into the same factor). Additional results on the test reliability and internal consistency are presented. CONCLUSIONS: Suite Test can help explore memory deficits across the life span and differentiate between visual and verbal memory strategies. Further research is required to study the test sensitivity and specificity, as well as convergent validity studies with well-established memory assessment tools.

The dynamics of psychological attributes and symptomatic comorbidity of depression in children and adolescents.

PURPOSE: This investigation aimed to explore attribute dynamics and symptomatic comorbidity of depression with internalizing, externalizing, and other personal-contextual problems in children and adolescents from a network analysis. METHODS: We tested an attribute network of regularized partial correlations, standard and alternative centrality measures, and comorbidity bridge symptoms according to centrality bridge measures. RESULTS: Regularized partial correlation network and a centrality measures graph shown the prominent position of social problems and anxiety-depression. Minimum spanning tree (MST) found a hierarchical dynamics between attributes where mixed anxiety-depression was identified as the core and the other attributes were hierarchically connected to it by being positioned in six branches that are differentiated according to their theoretical contents. The most central connections are established with the attributes of their own community or theoretical groups, and 37 bridge symptoms were identified in all networks. CONCLUSIONS: A significant role of mixed anxiety depression as an activator and intermediary of psychopathologies was supported as a central attribute of internalizing problems. Aggressive behavior as part of the broad externalizing dimension was one of the constructs that most intensively activate the network, and social problems were also distinguished as a relevant factor not only in terms of connections and central attributes but also in terms of bridge symptoms and comorbidity. This framework extends to the study of symptomatic "comorbidity."

School bullying in children and adolescents with neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Bullying is a common form of violence among children and adolescents. Young people with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions might have an increased risk of bullying victimisation and perpetration. We aimed to assess the odds of bullying involvement and its association with mental health measures in these populations. METHODS: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched PubMed, ERIC, Psychology and Behavioural Sciences Collection, Web of Science Core Collection, PsycArticles, and PsycInfo databases from inception up to Aug 8, 2023, and included articles reporting data on bullying outcomes of current bullying (within the past year) among children and adolescents (aged 4-17 years) with a diagnosis of a neurodevelopmental or psychiatric condtion provided by a health professional. Bullying type was classified as traditional (physical, verbal, or relational) or as cyberbullying (intentional and repeated harm inflicted through electronic devices and social media), and bullying involvement was classified as victimisation, perpetration, and perpetration-victimisation. Mental health measures were collected and the associations with bullying involvement assessed. We used random-effects meta-analyses to estimate prevalence and odds ratios (ORs) for bullying involvement. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic, and publication bias was tested with Egger's regression. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42021235043. FINDINGS: We included 212 studies in the meta-analysis. The total sample comprised 126 717 cases (mean age 12·34 years [SD 1·82], 37·6% girls) and 504 806 controls (12·5 years [SD 1·86], 47·6% girls). For traditional bullying, the pooled prevalence was 42·2% (95% CI 39·6-44·9) for victimisation, 24·4% (22·6-26·3) for perpetration, and 14·0% (11·4-17·1) for perpetration-victimisation. For cyberbullying, the prevalence was 21·8% (16·0-28·9) for victimisation, 19·6% (13·4-27·7) for perpetration, and 20·7% (8·4-42·6) for perpetration-victimisation. Compared with controls, young people with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions were more likely to be involved in traditional and cyberbullying as a victim (OR 2·85 [95% CI 2·62-3·09] and 2·07 [1·63-2·61]), perpetrator (2·42 [2·20-2·66] and 1·91 [1·60-2·28]), and perpetrator-victim (3·66 [2·83-4·74] and 1·85 [1·05-3·28]). Bullying involvement was associated with higher scores in mental health measures in young people with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions, particularly internalising symptoms and externalising symptoms. INTERPRETATION: Our study underscores bullying involvement as a prevalent risk factor in young people with neurodevelopmental or psychiatric conditions that might add to their disease burden through its negative effects on mental health. Interventions targeting these vulnerable populations are warranted to improve their mental health and their future social integration. FUNDING: Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Consorcio Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red.

Ice Cream: new virtual reality tool for the assessment of executive functions in children and adolescents: a normative study.

This study focuses on the obtention of normative data for participants between 8 and 16 years old who were administered the Ice Cream test, a virtual reality tool designed to evaluate executive functions. The normative sample comprised n = 821 participants (49% female), with an age range of 8 to 16 years old, recruited across nine different testing sites in Spain. Experienced evaluators in psychological assessment, recruited and trained by the developer of the test, administered the test to the recruited sample. An empirical analysis of Ice Cream identified three factors, namely planning, learning and flexibility. Descriptive normative groups by age and gender were initially provided. A homoscedasticity analysis by gender showed no statistically significant differences between male and female participants. Cluster analysis by age suggested the creation of different age groups, respectively, 8 to 11 and 12 to 16 in Planning and Flexibility, and 8 to 9 and 10 to 16 in Learning, and subsequently, descriptive data for the established age groups per factor are shown. A confirmatory factor analysis showed the suitability of the 3 factors established as measured of three differentiated executive functions. Complementary data on the validity and reliability, and internal consistency of the scales are provided. Obtained normative data are relevant for evaluating executive functions in children and adolescents in a more ecological way. Further studies are needed to determine sensitivity and specificity of Ice Cream VR test to measure executive functions in different clinical populations.

Mental Adjustment, Functional Status, and Depression in Advanced Cancer Patients.

Depressive symptoms are common in individuals with advanced cancer. OBJECTIVES: This study sought to analyze the relationship between physical and functional status and depressive symptoms, and to assess the role of mental adjustment across these variables in people with advanced cancer. METHODS: A prospective, cross-sectional design was adopted. Data were collected from 748 participants with advanced cancer at 15 tertiary hospitals in Spain. Participants completed self-report measures: Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Mini-Mental Adjustment to Cancer (Mini-MAC) scale, and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) questionnaire. RESULTS: Depression was present in 44.3% of the participants and was more common among women, patients <65 years old, non-partnered, and those with recurrent cancer. Results revealed a negative correlation with functional status, and functional status was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Mental adjustment affected functional status and depression. Patients having a positive attitude displayed fewer depressive symptoms, while the presence of negative attitudes increased depressive symptoms in this population. CONCLUSIONS: Functional status and mental adjustment are key factors in the presence of depressive symptoms among people with advanced cancer. Assessment of functional status and mental adjustment should be considered when planning treatment and rehabilitation in this population.

Network Analysis of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Children and Adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Experiencing psychological problems during childhood and adolescence is common. However, the detection of behaviors as symptoms of psychopathologies requiring clinical diagnosis and treatment remains low. In order to advance understanding of psychological phenomena and particularly their behavioral manifestations, new theoretical and methodological perspectives such as network analysis are applied. METHOD: In the present study, we explore the dynamics of the symptoms of different internalizing, externalizing, and personal-contextual problems using network analysis. We estimate networks of regularized partial correlations, including measures of standard centrality, and the global and structural impact of symptoms on each network. RESULTS: The results show that the syndromes we studied are activated through dynamics of symptoms that are strongly related to each other and act as intermediaries of potential psychopathological problems in children and adolescents (e.g., "feels sad", "worries", "won't talk", "nausea", "threatens others", "steals outside"). Centrality measures and impact coefficient ranges were strength (­2.39, 2.05), betweenness (­1.43, 3.38), closeness (­2.60, 2.23), and expected influence (­2.87, 2.13). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest the need to explore attribute dynamics as well as symptomatic comorbidity between them.

Eficacia de los tratamientos psicológicos para los comportamientos autolesivos suicidas y no suicidas en adolescentes / Efficacy of psychological treatments for suicidal and non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors in adolescents

Los comportamientos autolesivos y suicidas en adolescentes, por su creciente prevalencia como por sus fatales consecuencias, son en nuestrosdías un problema de salud pública que requiere de intervenciones eficaces. Con el objetivo de dilucidar los tratamientos psicológicos que, hasta lafecha, mejor funcionan para reducir o eliminar estos comportamientos, se realizó una revisión de estudios de metaanálisis y revisiones sistemáticasen las bases de datos PsycArticles, PsycInfo y MEDLINE. Los criterios de elegibilidad establecidos permitieron la selección final de 10 registros.Los resultados mostraron una elevada heterogeneidad y un alcance limitado de los tratamientos psicológicos con tamaños del efecto de pequeñosa moderados tanto para las conductas autolesivas, como para la ideación suicida, la suicidabilidad y especialmente para la intención suicida. Estosefectos tendían a debilitarse o desaparecer en el medio y largo plazo. La Terapia Dialéctica Conductual (TDC) resultó ser comparativamente la quemejores resultados obtuvo de las intervenciones analizadas. El alcance restringido de los resultados y las importantes limitaciones metodológicashalladas alertan de la necesidad de más investigación, así como del futuro diseño de intervenciones específicas para este tipo de problemas. (AU)

Self-injurious and suicidal behaviors in adolescents are nowadays a public health problem that requires effective interventions. In order to elucidate the psychological treatments that, to date,work best to reduce or eliminate these behaviors, a review of meta-analysis and systematic reviews was carried out in the PsycArticles, PsycInfo andMEDLINE databases. The established eligibility criteria allowed the final selection of 10 records. The results showed high heterogeneity and poorresults for the psychological treatments with small to moderate effect sizes for self-injurious behaviors, suicidal ideation, suicidality and especiallyfor suicidal attempts. These effects tended to weaken or disappear in the medium to long term. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) proved to becomparatively the best performing of the interventions analyzed. The limited scope of the results and the important methodological limitations alertus to the need for further research and the future design of specific interventions for this type of problems. (AU)

Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Spanish Children and Adolescents: An Exploration of Comorbidity from the Network Perspective.

The combination of depression and anxiety is among the most prevalent comorbidities of disorders leading to substantial functional impairment in children and adolescents. The network perspective offers a new paradigm for understanding and measuring psychological constructs and their comorbidity. The present study aims to apply network analysis to explore the comorbidity between depression and anxiety symptoms. Specifically, the study examines bridge symptoms, comorbidity, and shortest pathway networks and estimates the impact of the symptoms in the network's connectivity and structure. The findings show that "feeling lonely" and "feeling unloved" are identified as the most central bridge symptoms. The shortest path network suggests that the role of a mixed anxiety-depressive symptomatology, and specific and non-specific symptoms of clinical criteria, such as "worries," "feels depressed," "fears school," and "talks about suicide" could serve as a warning for comorbidity.

Network Analysis of Internalizing and Externalizing Symptoms in Children and Adolescents / Análisis de Redes de Síntomas Internalizados y Externalizados en Niños y Adolescentes

Background: Experiencing psychological problems during childhood and adolescence is common. However, the detection of behaviors as symptoms of psychopathologies requiring clinical diagnosis and treatment remains low. In order to advance understanding of psychological phenomena and particularly their behavioral manifestations, new theoretical and methodological perspectives such as network analysis are applied. Method: In the present study, we explore the dynamics of the symptoms of different internalizing, externalizing, and personal-contextual problems using network analysis. We estimate networks of regularized partial correlations, including measures of standard centrality, and the global and structural impact of symptoms on each network. Results: The results show that the syndromes we studied are activated through dynamics of symptoms that are strongly related to each other and act as intermediaries of potential psychopathological problems in children and adolescents (e.g., “feels sad,” “worries,” “won’t talk,” “nausea,” “threatens others,” “steals outside”). Centrality measures and impact coefficient ranges were strength (−2.39, 2.05), betweenness (−1.43, 3.38), closeness (−2.60, 2.23), and expected influence (−2.87, 2.13). Conclusions: The results suggest the need to explore attribute dynamics as well as symptomatic comorbidity between them.(AU)

Antecedentes: La experiencia de problemas psicológicos durante la infancia y la adolescencia es común. Sin embargo, la detección de conductas como síntomas de Psicopatologías que requieren diagnóstico y tratamiento clínico sigue siendo infravalorada. Por ello, para evolucionar en la comprensión de los fenómenos psicológicos considerando sus manifestaciones conductuales particulares, se aplican nuevas perspectivas teóricas y metodológicas como el análisis de redes. Método: En el presente estudio exploramos la dinámica de los síntomas de diferentes problemas internalizados y externalizados y personales-contextuales aplicando el análisis de redes. Se estimaron redes de correlaciones parciales regularizadas que incluye medidas de centralidad estándar e impacto global y estructural de los síntomas de distintos síndromes. Resultados: Los resultados muestran que los síndromes se activan a través de dinámicas de síntomas fuertemente relacionados con los demás y que actúan como intermediarios de potenciales problemas psicopatológicos en niños y adolescentes (por ejemplo, “sentirse triste”, “preocuparse”, “negarse a hablar”, “tener náuseas”, “amenazar a los demás”, “robar fuera”). Las medidas de centralidad y coeficientes de impacto oscilaron entre: fuerza (−2.39, 2.05), intermediación (−1.43, 3.38), cercanía (−2.60, 2.23) e influencia esperada (−2.87, 2.13). Conclusiones: Los resultados obtenidos sugieren la necesidad de explorar la dinámica multiconstructo, así como la comorbilidad sintomática entre ellas.(AU)

Probabilistic graphical model for the evaluation of the emotional and dramatic personality disorders.

Personality disorders are psychological ailments with a major negative impact on patients, their families, and society in general, especially those of the dramatic and emotional type. Despite all the research, there is still no consensus on the best way to assess and treat them. Traditional assessment of personality disorders has focused on a limited number of psychological constructs or behaviors using structured interviews and questionnaires, without an integrated and holistic approach. We present a novel methodology for the study and assessment of personality disorders consisting in the development of a Bayesian network, whose parameters have been obtained by the Delphi method of consensus from a group of experts in the diagnosis and treatment of personality disorders. The result is a probabilistic graphical model that represents the psychological variables related to the personality disorders along with their relations and conditional probabilities, which allow identifying the symptoms with the highest diagnostic potential. This model can be used, among other applications, as a decision support system for the assessment and treatment of personality disorders of the dramatic or emotional cluster. In this paper, we discuss the need to validate this model in the clinical population along with its strengths and limitations.

Perceived Dignity of Advanced Cancer Patients and Its Relationship to Sociodemographic, Clinical, and Psychological Factors.

Objective: Loss of dignity is one of the main reasons for wishing for an early death in patients with incurable diseases such as cancer and is strongly associated with psychological distress and loss of quality of life. The present study aims to analyze the perceived dignity of patients with advanced cancer undergoing systemic treatment and their relationship with sociodemographic, clinical, and psychological factors. Methods: A prospective, cross-sectional, multicenter study was conducted in 15 oncology departments in Spain. Patients with locally advanced, unresectable, or metastatic cancer who were candidates for systemic treatment were included. Participants completed demographic information and Palliative Patients' Dignity Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, Mental Adjustment to Cancer, Functional Social Support Questionnaire, and Illness Uncertainty. Results: A total of 508 patients were recruited between February 2020 and October 2021. Most were male, aged > 65 years, with digestive tumors (41%), and metastatic disease at diagnosis. Subjects were classified as having low (56%, N = 283) or high (44%, N = 225) perceived dignity. Patients ≥ 65 years, with worse baseline status (ECOG ≥ 1), and worse estimated 18-month survival had lower levels of perceived dignity. People with lower perceived dignity scored higher for anxious preoccupation and hopelessness and lower for positive attitude. They also displayed higher levels of anxiety, depression, and somatic symptoms, greater uncertainty, and less social support. Conclusion: Self-perceived dignity in advancer cancer patients is significantly associated with psychological factors, psychological distress, uncertainty, less social support. Knowledge of these specific interactions is importance for adequate, comprehensive palliative care.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of Comorbidity between Depression and Aggression in a Child-Adolescent Community Sample: Nosological, Prognosis and Etiological Implications.

Comorbidity between depression and aggression in the child-adolescent population remains a controversial phenomenon. To our knowledge, no longitudinal study using structural equation modeling (SEM) has confirmed whether the relationship between depression and aggression is due to the fact that they share internalizing and externalizing supraordinal factors at the level of the syndrome or is due to the fact that they share common characteristics in relation to an underlying factor at the level of symptoms. We examined longitudinal comorbid relationships in a community sample (N = 251) at three waves ages from 10 to 13 years. The SEM showed that longitudinally, the comorbidity between depression and aggression is due to the fact that they share characteristics of the same underlying factor at the symptom level. These results have implications for the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of comorbidity between depression and aggression in a child-adolescent population.

Image-Based Automated Width Measurement of Surface Cracking.

The detection of cracks is an important monitoring task in civil engineering infrastructure devoted to ensuring durability, structural safety, and integrity. It has been traditionally performed by visual inspection, and the measurement of crack width has been manually obtained with a crack-width comparator gauge (CWCG). Unfortunately, this technique is time-consuming, suffers from subjective judgement, and is error-prone due to the difficulty of ensuring a correct spatial measurement as the CWCG may not be correctly positioned in accordance with the crack orientation. Although algorithms for automatic crack detection have been developed, most of them have specifically focused on solving the segmentation problem through Deep Learning techniques failing to address the underlying problem: crack width evaluation, which is critical for the assessment of civil structures. This paper proposes a novel automated method for surface cracking width measurement based on digital image processing techniques. Our proposal consists of three stages: anisotropic smoothing, segmentation, and stabilized central points by k-means adjustment and allows the characterization of both crack width and curvature-related orientation. The method is validated by assessing the surface cracking of fiber-reinforced earthen construction materials. The preliminary results show that the proposal is robust, efficient, and highly accurate at estimating crack width in digital images. The method effectively discards false cracks and detects real ones as small as 0.15 mm width regardless of the lighting conditions.

Wearable Urban Mobility Assistive Device for Visually Impaired Pedestrians Using a Smartphone and a Tactile-Foot Interface.

This paper reports on the progress of a wearable assistive technology (AT) device designed to enhance the independent, safe, and efficient mobility of blind and visually impaired pedestrians in outdoor environments. Such device exploits the smartphone's positioning and computing capabilities to locate and guide users along urban settings. The necessary navigation instructions to reach a destination are encoded as vibrating patterns which are conveyed to the user via a foot-placed tactile interface. To determine the performance of the proposed AT device, two user experiments were conducted. The first one requested a group of 20 voluntary normally sighted subjects to recognize the feedback provided by the tactile-foot interface. The results showed recognition rates over 93%. The second experiment involved two blind voluntary subjects which were assisted to find target destinations along public urban pathways. Results show that the subjects successfully accomplished the task and suggest that blind and visually impaired pedestrians might find the AT device and its concept approach useful, friendly, fast to master, and easy to use.

Automatic Stomatal Segmentation Based on Delaunay-Rayleigh Frequency Distance.

The CO2 and water vapor exchange between leaf and atmosphere are relevant for plant physiology. This process is done through the stomata. These structures are fundamental in the study of plants since their properties are linked to the evolutionary process of the plant, as well as its environmental and phytohormonal conditions. Stomatal detection is a complex task due to the noise and morphology of the microscopic images. Although in recent years segmentation algorithms have been developed that automate this process, they all use techniques that explore chromatic characteristics. This research explores a unique feature in plants, which corresponds to the stomatal spatial distribution within the leaf structure. Unlike segmentation techniques based on deep learning tools, we emphasize the search for an optimal threshold level, so that a high percentage of stomata can be detected, independent of the size and shape of the stomata. This last feature has not been reported in the literature, except for those results of geometric structure formation in the salt formation and other biological formations.

Methodologically grounded semantic analysis of large volume of chilean medical literature data applied to the analysis of medical research funding efficiency in Chile.

BACKGROUND: Medical knowledge is accumulated in scientific research papers along time. In order to exploit this knowledge by automated systems, there is a growing interest in developing text mining methodologies to extract, structure, and analyze in the shortest time possible the knowledge encoded in the large volume of medical literature. In this paper, we use the Latent Dirichlet Allocation approach to analyze the correlation between funding efforts and actually published research results in order to provide the policy makers with a systematic and rigorous tool to assess the efficiency of funding programs in the medical area. RESULTS: We have tested our methodology in the Revista Médica de Chile, years 2012-2015. 50 relevant semantic topics were identified within 643 medical scientific research papers. Relationships between the identified semantic topics were uncovered using visualization methods. We have also been able to analyze the funding patterns of scientific research underlying these publications. We found that only 29% of the publications declare funding sources, and we identified five topic clusters that concentrate 86% of the declared funds. CONCLUSIONS: Our methodology allows analyzing and interpreting the current state of medical research at a national level. The funding source analysis may be useful at the policy making level in order to assess the impact of actual funding policies, and to design new policies.

Children's Temperament: A Bridge between Mothers' Parenting and Aggression.

Childhood aggression is important to acknowledge due to its social impact and importance in predicting future problems. The temperament of a child and parental socialization have been essential in explaining behavioral problems, particularly in the case of childhood aggression. The aim of this study is to examine-from the parents' perspective-the role of childhood temperament in the dynamic by which mothers' reactions socialize their children's aggression. We also explore how children's gender and age differences affect these relationships. The sample was composed of 904 participants between 1 and 6 years old. The Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire and the Children's Behavior Questionnaire were used to evaluate children's negative affect and effortful control. The Parent-Child Relationship Inventory Maternal was used to assess maternal communication and discipline, and child aggression was assessed using the Children's Behavior Checklist. The results supported the mediating role of temperament in the processes by which perceived mothers' reactions socialize their children's aggression and suggested that maternal behaviors may not have the same consequences for girls and boys. Specifically, the aggressiveness of girls is dependent on a negative affect throughout toddlerhood and early childhood, while for boys, the duration of the negative affect's contribution is shorter, and aggressiveness is more sensitive to the maternal behaviors of discipline and communication.

A Role for mir-26a in Stress: A Potential sEV Biomarker and Modulator of Excitatory Neurotransmission.

Stress is a widespread problem in today's societies, having important consequences on brain function. Among the plethora of mechanisms involved in the stress response at the molecular level, the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) is beginning to be recognized. The control of gene expression by these noncoding RNAs makes them essential regulators of neuronal and synaptic physiology, and alterations in their levels have been associated with pathological conditions and mental disorders. In particular, the excitatory (i.e., glutamate-mediated) neurotransmission is importantly affected by stress. Here, we found that loss of miR-26a-5p (miR-26a henceforth) function in primary hippocampal neurons increased the frequency and amplitude of miniature excitatory currents, as well as the expression levels of the excitatory postsynaptic scaffolding protein PSD95. Incubation of primary hippocampal neurons with corticosterone downregulated miR-26a, an effect that mirrored our in vivo results, as miR-26a was downregulated in the hippocampus as well as in blood serum-derived small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) of rats exposed to two different stress paradigms by movement restriction (i.e., stress by restraint in cages or by complete immobilization in bags). Overall, these results suggest that miR-26a may be involved in the generalized stress response and that a stress-induced downregulation of miR-26a could have long-term effects on glutamate neurotransmission.